Life has become tougher for the paparazzi since their original incarnation chased celebrities on the screen in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita.
Now, the land of their birth is threatening prison terms for media that run photos or reports on the peccadilloes of the rich and famous.
The action by Italy's privacy watchdog followed the breakup of what authorities calls a paparazzi blackmailing ring that targeted actors, soccer players and politicians -- and while many welcomed the curbs, others voiced concerns on what it means for press freedoms.
After days of photos and transcripts of purported telephone intercepts and interrogations involving starlets, athletes and other celebrities, the Privacy Authority on Friday forbade publication of "private facts and behavior that is not of public interest, not relevant to the story ... and violate the protection of the sexual sphere."
Violations carry potential sanctions of three months to two years in prison, plus possible fines. The photographer at the center of the probe was arrested along with two others on Monday on allegations including extortion and money laundering.
The probe even touched former premier Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, when newspapers splashed reports that he was the victim of blackmail over a photo of his daughter.
The Privacy Authority moved after one of Premier Romano Prodi's closest aides was mentioned in a wiretapped conversation between two photographers.
"Privacy is sacred, but only that of politicians," ironized Il Giornale, a center-right newspaper owned by Berlusconi's brother, which first carried the story about the Prodi aide.
Even leftist senator Cesare Salvi acknowledged double standards may be at play.
"The risk is now that this measure will be interpreted as a persecution of journalists. As long as it was about soccer players and showgirls, no one minded; now that it is about politicians, things are changing,'' he told La Stampa newspaper.
The word paparazzo itself comes from the name of the aggressive photographer who teamed up with gossip journalist Marcello Mastroianni in Fellini's 1960 classic film.
They still stake out Rome's clubs and outdoor cafes in the search of celebrities, following legendary shutterbugs famous for punch outs with bodyguards.
News photographers in France have faced tough restrictions since 2001, when a law went into effect prohibiting them from taking pictures of suspects in handcuffs or of crime victims whose dignity could be violated.
The latest scandal prompted the authority to move from "a request to a real ban," the authority president, Francesco Pizzetti, said in a column in Friday's Il Messaggero newspaper.
"The measure goes in the right direction of a better protection of citizens," said Michele Sorice, a professor of sociology of mass communications at Rome's La Sapienza University.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not